Pen Bay Pilot Prints Acid Rain Study

The Pen Bay Pilot ran an article about a study conducted by a former University of Maine researcher that indicates lakes in New England and the Adirondack Mountains are recovering more quickly now from the effects of acid rain than they did in the 1980s and 1990s.

Kristin Strock, a former doctoral student at UMaine, says sulfate concentration in rain and snow has dropped 40 percent and nitrate concentration has declined by more than 50 percent in the 2000s. The Clean Air Act enacted in the U.S. in 1970, as well as subsequent amendments, have helped reduce emissions of sulfur and nitrogen by 51 and 43 percent, respectively, between 2000 and 2010, Strock said.